Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

ASTERIX & OBELIX'S BIRTHDAY

The eagerly awaited new Asterix book – the first in four years – will be released in New Zealand this week, on 26 November 2009.The 34th album – Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday – is the highlight of Asterix’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2009. (Publisher Orion - NZ $39.99

Albert Uderzo has produced a wonderful tribute to his heroes and their millions of readers from around the world. Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday will contain a collection of 12 brand-new, never-before-published cartoons – all linked by the theme of Asterix’s anniversary celebration.The book is huge fun, I especially enjoyed the piece early in the book when author/illustrator Albert Uderzo himself makes a brief appearance, much to his regret!I have never understood how they make all the marvellous puns work in English when the original text is in French? A brilliant piece of translation.

BackgroundRené Goscinny and Albert Uderzo created Asterix for the first issue of Pilote magazine on 29 October 1959. It was an instant success with over 200,000 copies sold. Asterix first appeared in book form in 1961 as Asterix the Gaul. It was with Asterix in Britain, however, that copies of the books sold in France broke the one million mark for the first time and the little Gaul became an international sensation.The Asterix books have now been translated into 104 languages and sold over 320 million copies worldwide. There is an Asterix leisure park and ten films have been made, including the live action features with Gérard Depardieu as Obelix.When Goscinny died in 1977, Uderzo decided to carry on the great adventure of Asterix and in 1979 he created the publishing company Les Editions Albert René, which he runs today with his daughter Sylvie.

1: Asterix the Gaul2: Asterix and the Golden Sickle3: Asterix and the Goths4: Asterix the Gladiator5: Asterix and the Banquet6: Asterix and Cleopatra7: Asterix and the Big Fight8: Asterix in Britain9: Asterix and the Normans10: Asterix the Legionary11: Asterix and the Chieftain’s Shield12: Asterix AT the Olympic Games13: Asterix and the Cauldron14: Asterix in Spain15: Asterix and the Roman Agent16: Asterix in Switzerland17: Mansions of the Gods18: Asterix and the Laurel Wreath19: Asterix and the Soothsayer20: Asterix in Corsica21: Asterix and Caesar’s Gift22: Asterix and the Great Crossing23: Obelix and Co.24: Asterix in Belgium25: Asterix and the Great Divide26: Asterix and the Black Gold27: Asterix and Son28: Asterix and the Magic carpet29: Asterix and the Secret Weapon30: Asterix and Obelix All At sea31: Asterix and the Actress32: Asterix and the Class Act33: Asterix and the Falling Sky

FOOTNOTE:The Bookman has been collecting these for many years and thought he had them all but on checking his shelvesfinds there are only 29.